Rail-joint.



No. 673,649 Patented May 7, I90l.

H. B. NICHOLS & 0. B. VOYNDW.

RAIL .lomr

(Applicstion filed Jan. 24, 1901.)

(lo Iodel.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

HENRY B. NICHOLS AND OONSTANTINE B. VOYN OW, OF PHILADELPHIA,

RAIL-JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 673,649, dated. May 7, 1901.

Application filed January 24,1901. Serial No. 44,500. (No model.) 7

State of Pennsylvania, have jointly inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Rail- Joints, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention has relation to a rail-joint for the contiguous ends of meeting rails; and

in such connection it relates to the construction and arrangement of the parts constitut-' ing such a rail-joint to prevent relative movement of or independent action of the joined, rail-sections incident to the passage of a car or trafiic thereover.

The principal object of our invention is to provide a comparatively simple, durable, and perfect joint for the meeting ends of rail-sections to insure unbroken continuity of the abutting or joined rail-sections, and thus to prevent relative movement of said joined rails incident to the passage of cars over the same, thereby prolonging the life of the rail ends and lessening noise and jar, as well as Wear and tear on the rolling-stock.

Heretofore fish-plates rolled, forged, or cast to conform to the outline of the sides of the rail were bolted or riveted on each side of the rails, and the contact of such plates with the foot, underhead, and tram was relied upon to maintain the relative position of the rails; but in practice it has been found that rolled or even machined fish-plates would not give the required contact to form a continuous support to the rail, because invariably when fish-plates were bolted or riveted onto the rail the contact, which is the essence of the rail-joint, was only established at certain points and in course of time would either rust away, due to moisture or other extraneous causes,or be hammered away under continual pounding of the rolling-stock and other influences of traffic. According to our invention these objectionable features are obviated by the employment of a fluid substance or metallic material, which when introduced into the space provided therefor will fill up, and thus compensate for irregularities existing in both the rail-sections and fish-plates, thereby providing a continuous and perfect support for the rail-sections.

Our invention, stated in general terms, consists of a rail and fish-plates or channels contacting with or abutting against the web of the rail on both sides and flanged, so as to provide at the upper and lower portions of the rail spaces for the introduction of a liner or of a fluid substance or material adapted to fill the spaces, so as to become practically a continuous support for the rail-sections at the contiguous meeting ends of such rail-sections, and the fish-plates suitably bolted, riveted, or otherwise secured to the joined or abutting rail-sections.

The nature and scope of our present invention will be more fully understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, in which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through rail-sections, showing the fish-plates or channels in application thereto, embody-- ing features of our invention, with a liner consisting of a fluid or molten metallic or other suitable substance or material interposed between the rail-sections and fish-plates or channels and filling the spaces provided for the same on both sides of the web at the upper and lower portions of said rail-sections; and Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of two meeting rail-sections, showing our invention in application thereto, as illustrated in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, A is the rail, of any well-known construction.

B represents fish-plates or channels abutting against the web portion a of the rails and contacting at a a 01, and a thereof. It is, however, not absolutely necessary that the said fish-plates or channels should contact at the points above mentioned, as they may be arranged so that narrow spaces are provided between the upper and lower flanged portions of the plates or channels and the rail-sections for the purpose of introducing a suitable substance to take the place in the filling up of the spaces of the metal contacts of the plates or channels at the said points with the railsections.

b is a liner, consisting of a fluid substance or metallic material interposed =between the rails and the fish-plates or channels in any preferred manner by pouring the same through spaces provided therefor in the fish-plates or channels, thereby to provide for any irregularities due to the rolling of the rail and fishplates, and thus to form a continuous and perfect support for the same. This lining may consist of zinc, spelter, type or Babbitt metal, or the like, or it may consist of other materials, such as sulfur or the like. In the lower portions of the fish-plates or channels may be provided openings on each side for the introduction of the liner between the base of the rail and the spaces formed by the fishplates or channels in position in their abutment against the web of the rails riveted, bolted, or otherwise secured thereto, this substance or material filling up entirely the spaces and making thereby a perfect support for the rail-sections.

Having thus described the nature and object of our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A rail-joint, comprising two contiguous rail-sections, fish-plates or channels contacting with or abutting against the webs of said sections and a suitable liner interposed between the upper and lower flanges of said fish-plates or channels and said rail-sections, 1

substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. A rail joint, comprising rail sections abutting against each other, fish-plates or channels suitably secured to the webs of said rails and a metal liner interposed between the flanges of said plates or channels and said rail-sections and forming a support for the flanged portions of said rail-sections with said fish-plates, substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. A rail-joint, comprising contiguous railsections, fish plates or channels abutting against said sections, said fish-plates or channels riveted or bolted to the Web portions of said rail-sections and'a liner consisting of a fluid substance or material, such as zinc, spelter, type or Babbitt metal or the like poured between said plates and rail-sections to form a support for the flanged portions of said railsections with said fish-plates, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our signatures in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY B. NICHOLS. OONSTANTINE B. VOYNOW.

Witnesses:

J. WALTER DOUGLASS, THOMAS M. SMITH. 

